It is a story of second chances, second comings and multiple goofs. And when Tunisia host Cameroon in the first leg of their World Cup play-off on Sunday, you can be sure the referee will be taking at least two looks at the team-sheet. The last thing African football needs is for another match to be decided by bureaucratic bungling.

Tunisia thought they had blown their chance of competing in Brazil next year when they lost 2-0 in their final group game at home to Cape Verde last month. But that result was overturned when it emerged that the Cape Verdeans had fielded a suspended player in the match, a particularly unforgivable error considering that earlier in the group Cape Verde had themselves had a defeat to Equatorial Guinea turned into a victory for a similar offence. So Tunisia were suddenly back in the running and, indeed, named top seeds for the play-off draw, which ultimately pitted them against Cameroon, who had topped another group despite losing 2-0 in Togo – that loss, you see, was converted into a 3-0 Cameroon victory when Togo were found to have fielded an ineligible player.

Tunisia's reprieve came too late to save the manager Nabil Maâloul, who resigned immediately after the loss to Cape Verde. No one tried to change his mind, for the team's dour style during his six-month reign and his own confrontational personality made Maâloul unpopular with fans, officials and clubs (especially Espérance Sportive de Tunis, who accused him of pursuing a vendetta against them when, last August, he called up nine of their players for a friendly just two days before their Champions League match against Ivory Coast's Séwé Sport – this, claimed Espérance, was the manager's revenge for being sacked by the club in 2012 after leading them to the treble).

On Sunday Tunisia will be managed for the first time by Ruud Krol, the former Holland player who has agreed to combine the role temporarily with his job as manager of Club Sportif Sfaxien, whom he led to the Tunisian title last season. Krol represents a radical change from his predecessor," says Mohamed Hédi Boulaaba, a sports presenter on Tunis-based Radio Express FM. "He will play the typically Dutch 4-3-3 that has brought him success at CSS and adopt a much more attacking attitude than Maâloul, who was quite defensive."

Krol has summoned four of his CSS stalwarts to the squad, including the midfielders Maher Hannachi and Ferjani Sassi, who may start instead of the two most glaring omissions: Youssef Msakni and Oussama Darragi are gloriously talented but have been delivering below-par performances for months. Maâloul dared not omit them, Krol has no such qualms.

Perhaps more costly will be the absences of the experienced defenders Karim Haggui and Aymen Abdennour, both of whom are suspended for the first leg – then again, given the way the latter blundered for Cape Verde's first goal last month, and most of the team froze when faced with such a high-stakes clash, change was probably required. The Romania-based Syam Ben Youssef, recalled by Krol after two years in the international wilderness, could start at centre-back instead. However, Krol has decided against recalling Hamdi Harbaoui despite the Lokeren striker being the top scorer in the Belgian top flight with nine goals in eight matches so far this season, the player seemingly still persona non grata after condemning the "catastrophic" abilities and behaviour of the former manager, Sami Trabelsi, and several of his team-mates following this year's sorry performance at the Africa Cup of Nations. Marseille's Saber Khelifa or CSS's Fakhreddine Youssef will likely start up front instead.

Cameroon, meanwhile, are likely to deployed one of the greatest strikers in African history, assuming there is not another volte-face from Samuel Eto'o.

Eto'o retired from international football last month. At least that is the impression he gave when, after ceremoniously waving goodbye to the Yaoundé crowd following the 1-0 win over Libya in Cameroon's final group game, he gathered his team-mates together in the dressing room and wished them all the best for the future. Some players said he announced his retirement, others were not so sure. "Those were not his exact words, I think he wanted to leave it a mystery … he's a mysterious person," said the Olympiakos midfielder Gaëten Bong.

The manager Volker Finke went ahead and named Eto'o in his squad for the Tunisia match and this week, after talks with representatives of the country's president, Eto'o showed up. "I have been assigned my mission and like a good solider I will accomplish it," said Eto'o, who in recent years has attracted more attention for his battles with authority than for goals. To some of his compatriots he is a hero forever fighting official corruption and incompetence and to others he is a diva who demands a say in everything from federation politics to team selection and is becoming ever more militant as his own form declines. Both views have merits but the big question now is: what impact will his return have on the team? With several key players missing through injury, Cameroon could do with Eto'o reminding everyone why he enjoys such renown.

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